James Greenwood on patent reform/stem cells

James Greenwood in the Miami Herald:

That's why the president and Congress must protect incentives for private investment into stem-cell research and the continued development of cures and therapies. Doing so requires that they pursue public policies that balance the need to increase access to today's medicines with the need to develop tomorrow's cures.

One early test will come as Congress considers reforming our nation's patent laws. The recently introduced Patent Reform Act would weaken intellectual property rights by softening penalties for those who violate them. If patent laws are watered down, investors will redirect their money toward industry sectors that provide more certainty and a faster rate of return, creating a chilling effect on scientific innovation and the race to find cures for unmet medical needs.

But see also IPBiz posts on patent application of Gerald Schatten in the area of stem cells. Schatten collaborated with Hwang Woo Suk in the fraudulent paper published in the journal Science.